Food Origin Fibrinolytic Enzyme With Multiple Actions

Fibrinolytic Enzyme - An Overview

Cardiovascular diseases, like coronary heart disease or artery disorders (arteriosclerosis, including artery solidification), heart failure (myocardial infarction), arrhythmias, congestive heart condition, stroke, elevated vital signs (hypertension), rheumatic heart disorder, and other circulatory system dysfunctions are the most common causes of death worldwide. Cardiovascular disorders are treated with stenting, coronary bypass surgery grafting, anticoagulants, antiplatelet agents, and other pharmacological and surgical procedures; however, these have limitations due to their adverse effects. Fibrinolytic agents degrade fibrin through enzymatic and biochemical processes. There are various enzymes that are currently used as a treatment for CVDs, like Streptokinase, Nattokinase, Staphylokinase, Urokinase, etc. These enzymes are derived from various sources like bacteria, fungi, algae, marine organisms, plants, snakes, and other organisms. This review deals with the fibrinolytic enzymes, their mechanisms, sources, and their therapeutic potential.

Role of Fibrinolytic Enzymes in Anti-Thrombosis Therapy

Thrombosis, a major cause of deaths in this modern era responsible for 31% of all global deaths reported by WHO in 2017, is due to the aggregation of fibrin in blood vessels which leads to myocardial infarction or other cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Classical agents such as anti-platelet, anti-coagulant drugs or other enzymes used for thrombosis treatment at present could leads to unwanted side effects including bleeding complication, hemorrhage and allergy. Furthermore, their high cost is a burden for patients, especially for those from low and middle-income countries. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop novel and low-cost drugs for thrombosis treatment. Fibrinolytic enzymes, including plasmin like proteins such as proteases, nattokinase, and lumbrokinase, as well as plasminogen activators such as urokinase plasminogen activator, and tissue-type plasminogen activator, could eliminate thrombi with high efficacy rate and do not have significant drawbacks by directly degrading the fibrin. Furthermore, they could be produced with high-yield and in a cost-effective manner from microorganisms as well as other sources. Hence, they have been considered as potential compounds for thrombosis therapy. Herein, we will discuss about natural mechanism of fibrinolysis and thrombus formation, the production of fibrinolytic enzymes from different sources and their application as drugs for thrombosis therapy.

Prospects of fibrinolytic proteases of bacteria from sea cucumber fermentation products as antithrombotic agent

Cardiovascular disease is among the largest contributors of premature mortality in the world caused by inflammation of blood vessels. The abnormalities provoke thrombus formation or thrombosis blocking blood vessels leading to strokes, heart attacks and coronary artery diseases. Increasing percentage of cardiovascular cases and deaths due to thrombosis has attracted researchers to look for newer thrombolysis agents. Commonly used drugs to treat thrombosis has been limited due to various side effects. Therefore, the search for sources of safer and cheaper fibrinolytic enzymes for handling thrombolysis continues. This study aimed to evaluate potentials of fibrinolytic protease of bacteria isolated from fermented seafood (sea cucumber) products as antithrombotic agents. Information was initially gathered from scientific publications identified using web-based tools including PubMed (National Center for Biotechnology Information), Science Direct (Scopus) and Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) using combinations of search terms including “fibrinolytic enzyme protease”, “endopeptidase”, “fermented food”, “sea cucumber”, “thrombolysis therapy,” “thrombolytic agent,” “fibrinolytic bacteria,” “fibrinolysis,” “protease producing bacteria,” “fibrin degradation,” “holothurians,” etc. We also searched for these terms in national and international organization technical reports and databases. This literature review reveals the prospects of fibrinolytic protease enzymes from bacteria from fermented seafood, particularly sea cucumber as novel antithrombotic agents.